By Violet Vivid

Darkness, the kind of inky blackness where anything can happen, where your senses other than sight are enhanced for the slightest stimulus.

At first, nothing to see, and the only sound was a quiet drip of oil on to cold, hard concrete.

Then came the unmistakable noise of cogs and tumblers turning in a heavy padlock, followed by the rasp of a bolt being slid in its rusty grooves.

A rectangle of light punctuated the darkness, outlining a human silhouette, unmistakably female, topped with a stovepipe hat such as that worn by (The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing – Brunel)

With the gratifying thunk of a switch being thrown, came the crackle of (OMD - Electricity), rushing through wires, causing the filaments in the bulbs to glow into light.

As the light grew, and with it, the unmistakable clack-clack of heeled boots, then appeared the woman, tall, thin, but with a bosom held firm in a stiffly-boned leather corset over a scandalously short dress that would suit one (Abney Park - Herr Drosselmeyer's Doll). Her long legs were wrapped in supple leather trousers and ended in heeled knee-high chunky boots. Then she put on heavy (TMTWNBBFN - Goggles) over her sparkling hazel eyes and heavy purple make-up.

As she climbed into the cab of The Machine, her corset creaking slightly in time with the metal of the machine, a breathless whisper came from her mouth: "(Funker Vogt - Maschine Zeit)".

Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her trusted Zippo, igniting the oily rag to light the fire, kindling under the lovingly placed lumps of coal. As the fire caught and the heat increased, she lightly caressed the controls, a smile of anticipation on her lips as her thoughts turned to memories, of times (Anna Tivel - Before Machines). In the past the attentions of male suitors lined up by her father had turned her stomach. Only her girlfriends in school had even come close to giving her satisfaction, but when she discovered the machine's effect on her, her world had exploded into previously missing throes of joy and rapture.

"I found the same (Madness - Driving In My Car), but this, this is so much more intense!" she thought to herself, her smile broadening.

The fire got the water boiling nicely and the pressure rose to optimal. Her face slightly sooty, she sensually licked her lips as she gripped the main control lever tightly and thrust it to the first position, a moan of pleasure sighing from her lips, only to rise sharply at the sound of (Garbage – Hammering in my Head) as her beloved machine rose into its blissful (Luna Sea - Mechanical Dance).

As the Machine’s big pistons began to sridge, slow at first, but building into the rhythm of (Giuseppe Verdi - Il Trovatore - Anvil Chorus), the sweat started to glisten under the brow of her stovepipe, and her breathing causing her bust to heave within its corset. The machine built to its crescendo her cries rose to the climax, her moans and sighs began to (Nitzer Ebb - Join in the Chant) the wail of the machine, the crash of its parts, the hiss of steam, all adding to her arousal, the vibrations and shakes countered by her own writhing on the solid wooden operators seat, until the shrill prolonged cry of a steam whistle signified the Machine had completed its task, as her cries and spasms showed she too had achieved hers.

In the afterglow of the event, as she relaxed and her darling machine eased down with the sounds of cooling metal, she thought of her father, how despite his (Sonic Boom Six - The Road to Hell is paved with Good intentions) he'd never understand her Industrial Love.

Jon Spencer’s explosive solo to Marianne Faithfull’s gentle honesty, Bill Ryder-Jones love songs to music by the film director David Lynch, this week’s album roundup embraces a wealth of experimentation and styles

Word of the week: It's the infinitesimally small subatomic particle which forms matter, a type of curdled cheese from soured milk, is used in computer language and in sci-fi fiction names, but where in lyrics?

Word of the week: With an appropriately flamboyant sound and rhythm it’s a word best known for the title of Freddie Mercury’s epic Bohemian Queen song, and several major classical works, but where is it used in song lyrics?

Word of the week: It’s an adjective with a beautiful sound. It means the characteristics of our ape cousins, but of course sharing almost all the same DNA, it also means us. But where is simian in lyrics?

Word of the Week: It sizzles off the tongue, it’s the name of a great inventor, and after him, a unit of magnetic flux density, and it’s also a car, and in slang recreational drug, but where does it appear in song lyrics?

Word of the Week: It’s a word with a beautiful sound formed from the Latin word, umbra, for shade, is not merely an expanding accessory to shelter from the rain, also a general term of protection or a thing made of many parts

Word of the Week: It’s a famous Bjork album, but where does it come up in lyrics? The root of this word relates to the evening and its tolling bell, but also bats, Venus, a cocktail, and in slang – a kind, smart, cool girl

Word of the Week: It’s a slim, fast dog, the name of a car, a ship, a tank and a light aircraft, and also slang for recreational use of nitrous oxide from small metal containers, but where does it appear in song?

Word of the week: It’s an idealised location of magnificence and beauty with Chinese origins described in Coleridge’s poem, and a 1980 film starring Olivia Newton-John and song performed with ELO, but where else does it appear in lyrics?

Word of the week: Following on from zephyr last week, we work backwards to a colour term that can pertain to cheap books, a fish, a mussel, insect, a certificate for gold, and in urban slang, council workers wearing hi-vis jackets

Word of the week: Launching a new Song Bar series highlighting words or phrases used in lyrics for the oddness or musicality, let’s start with a z-word, and several examples including Madonna, Bill Callaghan, Frank Sinatra and Ian Dury

Song of the Day: Continuing a week of WW1 anniversary songs, in an unusually tender song from the heavy rock band, it’s a tragic first-person narration of the Battle of the Somme where 19,000 British soldiers were killed before noon

Song of the Day: Next in a week of songs dedicated to the First World War Armistice centenary, a deeply sad and vivid song by Ray Davies about the fleeting life of a young soldier killed in 1916 from the 1969 album, Arthur

Song of the Day: Continuing on the First World War Armistice Day centenary, a trio of some of the finest songs about war from the British singer and composer from her acclaimed 2011 album Let England Shake

Song of the Day: Today’s date, 7 November, is significant in all sorts of ways - elections, revolutions, births, deaths, but it’s the day in 1908 when two of America’s most famous outlaws were reportedly killed on the run in Bolivia

Song of the Day: In the wake of the most vital mid-term US elections in a generation, the 1972 rock song that is often wheeled out on these occasions, but less known is that it is a reworking of an earlier song, Reflected